See, Kath? Those are some of the reasons I prefer S/H -

* The medium is consistent and available

* Freshly repotted or in there for 5 years (yes, I've done that), the
conditions are pretty much the same.

* Same is true for just watered and a few days from then.

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies. Books, Artwork, and lots of Free Info!


"K Barrett" wrote in message
...
SH saved my one and only awarded paph. Having said that I don't grow much
of anything in SH. I'm not sure why. I guess I'm a bark kinda person.
But as bark becomes unavailable I guess I'll have to shift to something
else.

Diana, remember its OK to unpot paphs as Tennis said. If you read Bob
Wellensteins paph pages you'll see that he and Lynn often used to pot and
unpot paphs until the sat right in the pot for them. You'd never do that
to a cattleya for example. (ladyslipper.org, IIRC. might be .com) The
Tonkins used to repot every 6 months in plain straight fine bark, no
additives.

I'd wonder about the salt in the CHC, too. That's why I don't use it (too
lazy to leach it properly) Also new medium is more open and airy than the
old broken down stuff, so routine watering habits might not be enough for
freshly repotted plants. Or maybe the new medium is just plain too open
for them in the first place (too chunky and not fine enough).

Why did you change potting medium? Can't get it anymore? (Just a
question, I know it sounds challenging when read but I don't mean it that
way.)

K Barrett

"Ray B" wrote in message
news:87FQj.1903$Zs1.1578@trndny07...
Have you considered semi-hydroponics for them?

They were actually the first plants I used when I began experimenting
with the idea, and they seem to thrive.

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies. Books, Artwork, and lots of Free Info!


"tenman" wrote in message
news:1ZKdnWNMwIMHAo_VnZ2dnUVZ_jSdnZ2d@wideopenwest .com...
Diana Kulaga wrote:
Remember that we grow outside, so it depends on the weather. It's been
dry, so a couple of times a week lately. I don't ever over water. If
anything, I'm stingy that way. But I'm wondering if these guys need a
serious bath to get them going again. They weren't dried out when I
repotted, and the CHC wicks up water quite well. Still....

Diana

Take a representative plant out of pot at once and check the roots. It
won't hurt it and you need to know if the roots are rotting and if so,
overwatering them now will be the kiss of death. Note the moisture level
of the mix. If the roots are good, I would suggest (assuming they are
loosely in the mix rather than tightly packed) they could use some TLC,
including copious watering.

Other thought: has the CHC been soaked to leach out salts? If not, the
salt levels will kill the roots. I don't know if you are used to using
CHC or not.

Other than that, I'm out of ideas.